Because I operate as both a practicing attorney and a journalist, I refrain from writing in this column about my active cases in that constitutionally unique and venerated forum--our courts. Don't fret, you'll still likely see a quote from me in the Arkansas section of this paper--sometimes even on the front page!--when an able Democrat-Gazette reporter writes about the litigation in real time. But when the matter is no longer before a judge and appeals are finished, you could get a recap here. This is one of those circumstances.

Recall that in April 2024--in a case I brought with two other lawyers--the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that attorneys as "officers of the court" are entitled to possess handguns in state courthouses pursuant to a statute that stated precisely that. That ruling did exactly what courts are supposed to do: apply the law as written. (By the way, don't confuse this guns-in-courthouses case with the one that you've been reading about in Section A of this paper concerning guns in city halls. Totally different cases. Same general rights, of course.)

Shortly after issuing that opinion, the Supreme Court released an "administrative order"--a directive not tied to any particular case--stating that judges individually have inherent judicial authority over courtrooms and related offices. Meaning judges may exclude from the courtrooms in which they operate armed attorneys even though the attorneys are legally entitled to carry in the courthouse. (Thereafter, the Pulaski County courthouse installed gun lockers for armed attorneys who were planning to enter courtrooms.)

When the officers-of-the-court case was pending, some firearm-phobes implored the justices to deny our request to enforce the law. Their question was always the same: "Why does an attorney need to carry a gun into a courthouse?"

many courthouses sit in or near unsafe neighborhoods, with lawyers forced to walk some distance to and from their cars;

attorneys often carry laptops and tablets, while wearing fancy watches and wealth-suggesting attire, all of which make........

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